Draft appliance for railway-vehicles.



W. McCONWAY, JR.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULYZ, 1915.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

awwwwto'z THE COLUMBIA PLANQGRAPH 60-. WASHINGTON, D. c.

Patented Feb. 15,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- .3.

W. McCONWAY, JR.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. I915.

trated in Fig l. ,FigB is a verticallongi- WILL-rain IVZCOON'W'AY,

MoCONWAY & TSRLEY Barron or PENNsYLvANrs.

OE PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANEA, ASSIGNQR TO THE CG'IVZPANY, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CGRPG- nuance APPLIANCE FOR EAILVIAY-VEHZCLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 2, 1915. Serial No. 37,675.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAii MCCONWAY, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft Appliances for Railway-Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to draft appliances for railway vehicles and more especially to means for yieldingly retaining a car coupler in its normal position in the longitudiformed apertures in thecoupler head and in 11211 axis of the car.

T he principal object of the invention is to pr vide coupler centering devices which, while ciliciently. controlling the lateral swinging movements of the coupler, shall be strong and durable and capable of'being readily assembled and disassembled without the necessity of cutting any rivets and without, requiring the use of special tools.

The object of my invention, generally stated, is efiected by slidably mountingon the stem of a car coupler having a pivoted coupler head a frame that is supported by a longitudinally extending spring which is operatively interposed between the rear end of said frame and said stem, the frame having mounted upon it spring supported followers or spring-cups which are adapted to reciprocate transversely and 'tofcontact the carry-iron or some other stationary abutment on the vehicle, said frame involving a bifurcated member having longitudinally extending slotted branches for the reception of the spring-cups, and a detachable member having interlocking engagement with said branches and forming a seat for the longitudinally extending spring by;

which the sliding movements of the frame uponthe stem are controlled.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of a draft'appliance embodying novel features hereniafter claimed, a per-:-

tion of the stem of' the coupler being broken away and a portion of the coupler head being shown in horizontal sectionif Fig; 2 isa side elevation of the devices illus- 55,Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of elements of the slidable frame, illustrating their mode of assembly.

Inthe drawings, 1 indicates the coupler head and 2 is the coupler stem. [is the mechanism illustrated in the drawings mayserve to centralize the coupler head with respect to. the stem as well as to centralize the coupler as a whole, the coupler head 1 and stem 2 are preferably pivotally con nected by means of a pivot pin 3 which passes through alined, correspondingly the forward end of the coupler stem. lhe coupler stem 2 may conveniently be of the wellknown bifurcated type having upper and lower plates or branches 4, t that are rigidly united at their rearward ends. For

the purpose of connecting the coupler to th railway vehicle so that it may move or swing laterally with respect .thereto, the 7 rear end of the coupler stem is preferably provided with an aperture?) which is adapted to receive the usual tail-pin (not shown) whereby the. coupler may be connected to yielding draft rigging mechanism. Near its rear end and between theupper and lower plates thereof, the coupler stem 2 is also preferably provided with a filler or spacing member 6' which is secured in position by means of a vertically extending rivet 7. The member 6 isv preferably provided with laterally disposed flanges 8 which serve to properly. retain: in position the longitudh nally extending spring 9 whose forward end bears against the inner end of the slidable 7 frame that carries the transversely extending' spring-cups mounted between the followers. Slidably plates or branches t of the coupler stem is a frame which carries follow or spring-cups 10. that, respectively, project outwardly'in opposite directionsheyolnd the coupler stem.

pring-cups, which a'rearranged to reciprocatetransversely, are adapted to engage at their outer. ends the carry-iron, draftrsills or. some other stationary'parts of the car;

Attheir inner ends each of the spring-cups is provided with" suitable means, such, for example, as the flanges 1]., for engaglng the Fig. 5 is a trans- Patented ream, 1916. i

These gage the sprin compressed sol... v

The slidable frame upon which the spring-- cups or followers are mounted involves in.

its construction a bifurcated member 14: having longitudinally extending branches 15 that receive the top and bottom plates 4. of the coupler stem between them. Each of these branches 15 is provided with an opening 16 for the reception of oneof the springcups 10, such openings 16 being preferably llltllb form of open-ended slots, as more par ticularly illustrated inFig. 6. The inner or f ee ends of the branches 15 of the bifurcated frame member 14: are preferably connected laterally by a detachable frame member 17 having interlocking engagement withv said branches and forming a seat for the longitudinally extending spring 9.

The interlocking engagement of the frame members and 17 is preferably of the nature following: Each of the branches 15 of the bifurcated frame member 1 1 is preferably provided with a plurality 'of rearwardly extending projections 18 of rectangular cross section, there being two such projections on each of said branches, one being arranged above the slot 16 and the other below it. The frame member 17 is provided with lugs or projections 19 that abut the free ends of the branches 15 of the bifurcated frame member, tie portions 19 of the member 17 being formed with recesses or pockets 20 into which the respective projections 18 are adapted to fit :when the frame members 11- and 17 are brought into assembled relation.

Yi hile the longitudinally extending spring 9, whi h bears upon the rear face of the frame member 17 serves to retain the frame members in assembled relation, it is pre receive vertically mg devices 23. A transversely extending pr -ventthis spring from being within the spring, the pin cotter 24, which passes through a suitable aperture in the detachable frame member 17 and through each of the keys 28, serves to retain said keys in place.

The frame member .17 1s provided at its sides with forwardly extending lugs or flanges 26 which enter'the slots 16 in the bifurcated framemember 14:, and which, when the parts are in assembled position, have an overlapping engagement with the corresponding flanges 11 upon the rear sides of the respective spring-cups 10. These flanges 26, through their engagement with" the flanges 11 of the spring-cups, operate as stops to limit the extent of separation of they spring-cups. Similarly, and for thesame purpose, the forward flanges 11 of the spring-cups have overlapping engagement stem 2 in response to turning movements of the coupler head 1 with respect to said stem, the portion of the frame member 1a which connects the branches 15 thereof is recessed or cut away, as best shown at 29 in Figs. 1, 3 and 6. The forward end of the bifurcated framemember 14 extends into a forwardly contracting pocket 30 in the com pler head, said member 14: being formed with. vertically extending transverse faces 31 which normally engage corresponding faces 32 on the coupler head 1.

The devices may be assembled as follows:

4:, 4c of the coupler stem with its rear'end bearing upon the filler member or spring seat 6. The frame member 17 is then inserted between the plates of the coupler stem. The transversely extending spring 12, with the pin 13 within it, is then positioned on the coupler stem and the spring-cups 10 are placed on theends' of said. spring. The bifurcated frame member 1 1 is then slid rearwardly between the plates 4; of the coupler stem, the-spring-cnps 10 entering the slots 16 in the corresponding branches 15 of the bifurcated member, and the inner end of the latter being brought into interlocking relation with the frame member 17. The keys 23 and the cotter 24 are then put in place,

after which the coupler head 1 may be brought into proper relation with the coupler stem 2 and connected thereto by means ofrthe pivot'pin '3. The coupler head 1 may be then placed in position, and connected to the coupler stem by the pivotpin 3.

The operation 'of the devices is as fol-E lows: 'When the stem 2 of-the coupler is displaced laterally from its normal. position The spring 9 is inserted between the plates 10 being in engagement with some stationary part of the car, is prevented from retreating and the transversely extending spring 12 is, therefore, compressed between said" spring-cups. Then the force that has induced the lateral displacement of the coupler stem ceases to act, the spring 12 will expand, causing the spring-cups l0" toreturn to normal position thus restoringthe coupler to central position. When the coupler head 1 is subjected to a force which causes it to rotate on the pivot pin 3 in either direction from its normal position, one or the other of the shoulders 32 on the coupler head, depending upon the direction of rotation, acts upon the contacting face of shoulder 31 at the forward. end of the bifurcated member 14, thus forcing the entire frame to slide rearwardly upon the coupler stem 2. As the longitudinally extending spring 9 bears upon the member 17 which forms the rear end of the frame such spring is compressed by the rearward travel of the frame. The subsequent expansion of this spring restores the frame to normal position, thus also restoring the coupler head to normal or centralized position with respect to the coupler stem 2.

I claim:

1. The combination with a coupler having a head and stem, of a frame mounted upon said stem, and yielding means carried by said frame for centralizing said coupler, said frame involving a bifurcated member having longitudinally extending branches, and detachable means for transversely connecting the free ends of said longitudinally extending branches, said longitudinally extending branches and said detachable means together constituting the boundaries of openings for the reception of said yielding means.

2. The combination with a'coupler having a head and stem, of a frame mounted upon said stem, followers carried by and projecting laterally from said frame, and a spring operatively interposed between said followers, said followers and spring constituting yielding means carried by said frame for centralizing said coupler, and said frame involving longitudinally extending portions each having an open-ended slot adapted to receive one of said followers, and detachable means for retaining said followers in assembled positions on said frame.

3. The combination with a coupler having a head and stem, of a frame mounted upon said stem, andyielding means carried by said frame for centralizing said coupler, said frame involving a bifurcated member having longitudinally extending slotted branches.

4' The combination witha coupler having" a headand a stem,of afrai'ne mountedupon said stem, and yielding means carried by said frame; for centralizing said'coupler, said frame involving a bifurcated member having apertures therein through: which said meansfor centralizing the coupler are adapted to extendpand detachable fmeans' forming a portion of the boundary of each} of said apertures.

said stem, and yielding means carried by said The combinat-ioir with a' conpler having ahead and stem, of a frame mounted upon frame for centralizing said coupler, 1 said frame involving a bifurcated member having longitudinally extending branches, and detachable means having interlocklng engagement with said branches and connect-- ing said branches.

6. The combination with a coupler having a stem and a head pivotally connected to said stem, of a frame slidably mounted on said stem, yielding means carried by said frame for centralizing said coupler, and a longitudinally extending spring operatively interposed between said frame and stem, said frame involving a bifurcated member having longitudinally extending branches and detachable means having interlocking engagement with said branches and forming a seat for said longitudinally extendingspring, and said detachable means being by said .spring retained in interlocking engagement with said bifurcated member.

7. The combination with a coupler having a stem and a head pivotally mounted on said stem, of a frame slidably mounted on said stem, yielding means carried said frame for centralizing said coupler, and a spring operatively interposed between the rear end of said frame and said stem, said frame involving separable transversely interlocked members which may be disengaged by a relative movement in the direction of length of said stem, and detachable means for retaining said frame members in assembled" relation. g

8. The combination. with a, coupler having a head and stem, of a frame mounted upon said stem, and spring controlled means carried by and projecting from said frame for centralizing said coupler, said frame involving 'a bifurcated member having lon gitudinally extending branches, a detachable member having interlocking engagement with each of said branches,'and keys for connecting said bifurcated member and said detachable member, said bifurcated member and said detachable member being provided with alined keyways.

' 9. The combination with a coupler having a stem and a head pivotally mounted on said nally extending spring operatively intering interlocking engagement with said branches and forming a seat for said longitudinally extending spring, a plurality of keys for connecting said bifurcated memr bers and said detachable member, and means for maintaining said i keys in assembled relation.

WILLIAM MCOONWAY, JR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

